


The previous scenes stacked in the wings.

by deadbattery



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: I FORGOT NICK'S DOG'S NAME OKAY, IDEC, M/M, this is a present for someone, title from Owen Sheers - Last Act, triggering maybe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-01
Updated: 2013-05-01
Packaged: 2017-12-10 02:36:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/780786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deadbattery/pseuds/deadbattery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick didn't think his evening would be spent talking Louis Tomlinson off the ledge.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The previous scenes stacked in the wings.

The clock on the wall says 2am, but Nick’s mind says _agony. ___

He hasn’t been sleeping as much during the night, it’s almost as though his body has adjusted to having to drag his stiff bones out of bed every morning at an ungodly hour to wake up the nation. Before he had gotten his position on radio 1, he was a firm believer in lie-ins. Now his body clock is all screwed up; he wasn't even working today for godsake.

He contemplated staring at the wall for a while until he had to get up, but in the end he decided to walk around for a bit in an attempt to make him tired. Maybe a short walk would do him some good. Then maybe he’ll be able to get some bloody kip.

He clambers out of bed and gets dressed in a blur, nearly stepping on an unimpressed Lex. He wonders idly if there would be any coffee shops open because he can't be bothered to make on right now. Probably not, but there's a 24 hour Tesco open on the other side of the bridge. Nick creeps around his flat and pulls his jacket and shoes on before slipping out the front door and locking it. His guard dog is so excellent that he doesn't even need to lock his door (he does).

 

The air outside is strange, it's almost calm with a biting sense of finality. It makes Nick shudder. He makes his way down the street and heads towards the big bridge with his arms tightly wrapped around himself for warmth. As he walks closer he can see someone sat on the railings of the bridge. Idiot, nick thinks, they could easily fall and die!

He quickens his pace to see whether the person is small enough for him to reprimand for being so reckless.

The idiot on the ledge turns their head when they hear Nick's approaching footsteps. He's sat near enough to the street lamp that Nick is just about able to make out their face, he squints a bit and stops in shock. Louis Tomlinson is the one sat on a bridge ledge at 2am on a cold night.

Louis appears to be glaring at Nick, but that doesn't phase him because he's used to that from the younger lad. He recovers from the initial shock and bounds up to where Louis is sat, still scowling.

He clears his throat, "Y'alright?"

Now he's closer to Louis' face he notices that he has tear tracks running down his cheeks and he looks wrecked, "M'fine Nick." He replies shortly. He was always a little brat but he shouldn't feel the need to blatantly lie to Nick's face.

"Darling we both know that's a lie." Louis doesn't say anything and instead he turns his face away from Nick's and looks wistfully down to the long drop over the bridge. It kind of scares Nick to see the calculative gaze Louis gives the ground at the bottom of the drop.

"What are you doing up here then?" He tries a different tactic.

Louis shrugs, "Couldn't sleep."

Bullshit. "Me neither," Nick admits, "so, why can't a member of the hugest boyband right now sleep on a Wednesday night?" He tries for casual but he's burning with curiosity and yeah so sue him, he cares about the younger boy.

Louis drags his eyes away from the drop and looks into Nick’s eyes, his expression is blank and unreadable but his eyes are bright and sharp, he really is quite breathtaking. “Current events.” He deadpans.

Nick snorts and shifts closer to Louis so he’s standing next to the lad who’s legs are swung over the ledge and the only thing keeping him from falling is his one arm wrapped around the lamppost. Nick has to stop himself from picking Louis up and carrying him to Tesco for a coffee. Would that be a date? Probably.

“Really,” he says quietly, “you can tell me.”

Louis looks at him again and now his face just reads confusion and something else Nick can’t quite put his finger on. “I can’t.” He says sadly. It almost physically hurts Nick to see him look so dejected and tired.

“Can you tell someone else?”

Louis gives him a half shrug and a tired smile that doesn’t even attempt to reach his eyes, “Nah, m’all good.”

Nick resists the urge to roll his eyes, Harry has told him how Louis is a fan of downplaying anything he feels to make everyone else happy. To witness this trait in person is almost surreal; he’s used to the snarky and cheery Louis who always reserves a special look of distaste just for Nick. “Why the bridge?” He needs to know.

“I wanted to do it somewhere pretty, not locked in the bathroom for one of the lads to find me.” Louis’ voice is harsh and cold. His words sink in and Nick feels sick to his stomach.

“W-what do you mean?” He asks shakily, staring in horror at the bottom of the drop and imagining Louis’ little body lying motionless down there. He’s going to be sick.

Louis laughs bitterly and it’s a foreign sound to Nick’s ears, “I think we both know what I mean Nicholas.”

He can’t process this, he feels desperate and angry. How can precious little Louis even consider taking his own life? It’s ridiculous. “Why?” He chokes out.

The emotion in his voice obviously takes Louis by surprise and his gaze is calculating as his eyes roam over Nick’s face. “Why not?” He retorts.

Nick is scared to move away from Louis in case he lets go but he grabs his own hair and lets out a exasperated laugh before staring at Louis in disbelief, “Why not? Fuck Louis because you have your whole life being a popstar ahead of you!”

Now it’s Louis’ turn to laugh, “Nick I’m going to be honest with you because I honestly don’t give a fuck anymore, I have depression and it isn’t getting better and I just want to die.” He sounds like he’s trying to scare Nick into leaving him alone, but it’s not going to work. Louis could tell him that he just murdered a whole family and is going to jump so he doesn’t go to prison and Nick would still not let him jump. He’d probably help him escape from the police. Anyway, Nick isn’t going anywhere.

“I just wanted a coffee.” He tells Louis.

Louis smiles in spite of himself, “What’s stopping you?” He asks cockily.

“You.” He says simply, watching the smile fall from Louis’ face.

“Why?” Louis hisses, “Just fuck off I don’t want your help.”

Nick shrugs, “I don’t care if you don’t want my help. You need- LOUIS SHIT-“ Louis’ arm had unwrapped from the lamppost. Nick’s arms shot out and grabbed the younger boy around the waist, much to his protests.

“Get the fuck off me Nick!” Louis spits at him.

Nick ignores him, he’s never been a very strong person, but Louis is tiny and he can easily carry him. He hoists the boy off the ledge and over his shoulder. Almost instantly Louis starts shouting and hitting his fists against Nick’s back.

“Get your hands off me Grimshaw!” He wails, Nick can hear he’s crying now as Nick walks them both down the pavement on my bridge and towards the big Tesco around the corner. His back is really starting to hurt.

They’ve been walking for about five minutes and Louis is still whacking him pathetically and hurling insults about Nick every few steps.

“Darling can you let up on the physical abuse?” He asks gently. It probably wont even bruise, Louis doesn’t want to actually hurt him. Gradually Louis’ blows soften and now Nick can just hear him sniffling. It breaks his heart.

They come around a corner and Nick waltzes over to the shop and through the double doors, they’re both greeted with the welcoming warm air as they step into the building. A tired looking employee gives them a funny look and Nick thinks he just heard Louis snort. They must look insane.

 

“Louis darling we appear to be receiving some odd stares.” He informs the boy over his shoulder.

“Are we Nicholas, whatever are we going to do about that?” Louis plays along. God bless him.

“I haven’t the faintest idea, but I want a cup of coffee, how about you?”

“Erm sure.” Louis sounds unsure and rather wary.

He carries him over to the stairs and regards them for a moment before deciding on the lift instead.

He hears Louis laugh, “You’re taking the lift! Are you subtly implying I’m fat?”

Nick rolls his eyes, “Of course not, I’m just very tired and there’s no one here so we aren’t taking away the use of the lift for the elderly or disabled.”

“Oh my God why do say things like that?” Louis isn’t really in a position to be making jibes at Nick, but he’s relentless.

They step onto the into the lift and Nick playfully slaps Louis' bum, earning a squawk from the younger lad who starts wriggling and flapping around, "HELP I'VE BEEN LOUISNAPPED" the doors shut just as some of the staff start looking concerned. Nick lets out a breath of relief.

" _Louis _napped really?" He scoffs.__

He can almost feel the eye roll.

 

\---

 

When the doors open and Nick has carried Louis over to the counter and ordered their coffee, he lets Louis down slowly, scared that he might disappear or leg it as soon as his feet hit the floor. He stares at Nick again, still calculative and hesitant.

"Why?" He asks.

Nick's confused, "Why what?"

Louis scrunches up his nose in frustration and it's adorable, "Why did you make me get down?"

Nick blanches, why wouldn't he help Louis? He's thought that Louis hung the moon and the stars now for about three months. It always hurt him that Louis seemed indifferent towards him. "Why wouldn't I help you Louis?"

Louis bits his lip and tentatively grabs Nick's hand over the table they're sat at, no one else is in the cafe at the moment and the girl behind the counter is too busy ogling the girl who's restocking the coffee pot. Nick gulps as he feels Louis' small hand slip into his own, he trains his eyes on the coffee in front of him.

"I've never been overly nice to you." Louis mumbles, looking guilty.

Nick sighs, it's never mattered to him. He has been waiting for Louis to mature slightly so he could ask him on a real date without Louis laughing in his face and waltzing off to wrestle with Harry. "Lou, I honestly don't mind about all that stuff, it's how me and you are." He looks up and smiles.

Louis still looks confused, "You care about me?"

It's an unsure statement, one that Nick would very much love to confirm, "I do." He says seriously. "Louis I've had a fucking crush on you for months and you never noticed!" He startles a laugh out of himself.

He had expected Louis to freeze or maybe frown, but his facial expression doesn't change at Nick's admission. "Thank you." He whispers.

Now Nick is frowning, "For what?"

"Saving me." Louis says simply. Nick feels like a Dr.Suess creation at that moment because he thinks he can feel his heart grow ten sizes.

It’s sickeningly cute.

“I’d do it again in a heart beat,” Nick says quietly, Louis’ eyes look shimmery and pretty, but he quickly schools his features to judge Nick for his choice of words.

“That’s disgusting Nicholas,” He snorts.

Nick feels happy, Louis is sat across from him and isn’t on that bridge, he hasn’t run away from Nick after finding out Nick has a crush on him and he’s insulting him. It couldn’t get more perfect right now.

They sip their coffee for a while in a comfortable silence until a small girl and her parents wander into the cafeteria looking tired and confused. The girl looks at Nick and then here eyes land on Louis and she loses her shit.

“OH MY GOSH IT’S LOUIS” She squeals excitedly, breaking free from her mother’s grip and running across the room towards Louis. They both stand up as she stands in front of them.

Louis smiles brightly down at the girl, “Hello love!”

She looks like she’s going to pass out, “Hi Louis, I love you so much you’re my favourite ever!”

Louis blushes and thanks her, she brandishes a little Barbie notepad and pen for him to sign with. He takes it and she whispers a personalised message for him to write, which earns a chuckle from him.

The girl's parents wander over with their food and drinks and apologise to Louis and Nick for the interruption, Louis dismisses it, saying it’s his pleasure and he loves to meet fans of the band.

“Is he your boyfriend?” The girl asks Louis, nodding her head at nick.

Nick blinks and seems to have lost the ability to speak, “Nah love, he’s an unbearable hipster, I couldn’t date him!” Louis says mock in mock offence.

The little girl laughs, “Yes you can silly! You have the same hair.” Nick laughs at that because both him and Louis look like shit tired right now (Louis still looks pretty though which isn’t fair).

“The young lady here has a fair point Lou Lou.” Nick tells Louis, who raises an eyebrow at the challenge.

“Maybe when he takes me on a proper date instead of just sweeping me off my feet and buying me really bad coffee.” The girl behind the counter who was staring at the coffee girl looks offended.

“You’re a little monster.” Nick grins.

The little girl nods happily as though her mission in life is achieved, before she hugs Louis and Nick goodbye and joins her parent to sit at a different table. Louis smiles down at his drink and they both finish their coffee. Nick looks up when he’s done to see Louis looking sad again.

“How long have you been depressed Louis?” He asks softly.

Louis doesn’t seem perturbed by the question, “Way before I even tried out for X Factor.” He admits.

Nick feels as though someone just stabbed him through the heart with an icicle. To think that the smiling boy everyone has seen on telly and heard on the radio has actually been struggling with depression for years without help. Nick wants to cry because he’s selfish and stupid.

“I don’t know what to say.” He whispers.

Louis takes his hand again, “Don’t say anything, you wouldn’t be you right now if you did, and I like you.”

Nick’s answering smile is feeble but sincere, “You like me?”

Louis laughs softly and shakes his head, “You’re going to be the death of me Nick Grimshaw.”

“Too soon.” Nick snaps.

Louis just smirks, that little shit. “I’m finished, are you?” He asks, moving his chair back to stand up. Nick nods and copies him, grabbing both of their empty cups and shoving them in the bin by the stairs before they walk down.

“Y’know when you haven’t got a bag to show you’ve brought something, do you ever feel like everyone thinks you’re stealing something?” Louis asks.

Nick nods, “Yeah, but like why would a member of one direction need to steal from a bog standard Tesco?” He laughs.

“True.”

They leave the shop and walk in silence for a while, not really knowing where they’re going until they realise they’re heading in the direction of the bridge and over to Nick’s apartment. Nick grabs Louis’ hand as they walk over the bridge, he can see Louis blush in the corner of his eyes and he’s glad. Louis stops when they get to the place where Nick found him earlier and he pulls his hand back, Nick’s heart is in his throat. But then Louis just takes his shoes off and drops them over the edge.  
They both wait for the drop and flinch when they hear it.

Louis slips his hand back into Nick’s but Nick sighs as he looks down at Louis’ little bare feet. “You’re so daft, you’re gonna get tetanus!” He scolds him.

“Oh well.” Louis shrugs, he does that a lot. Rude.

“Right how do you want to do this then?” Nick asks and motions between them.

Louis looks appalled, “Nick I’m not that easy!”

Nick makes the connection and starts laughing, “I meant I was going to carry you home you dick!”

At least Louis has the decency to look embarrassed and mumble “I knew that” before motioning to climb onto Nick’s back. Nick turns around and lets Louis hop onto his back. He’s all sleepy and lithe limbs now so it’s easier for Nick to carry him this time. He starts walking back to his flat.

They weren’t talking so Nick doesn’t realise that by the time he’s got back to his flat and opened the door (with much difficulty) that Louis is zonked out on his back.

“Lou we’re home.” He whispers. When he gets no response he thinks that maybe Louis is just being shy. Then he thinks that he’s being stupid because Louis is never shy.

He creeps back into his bedroom and turns around to lower Louis onto the bed. He turns back around and sees Louis with his eyes closed and his lips slightly parted, he looks positively angelic. You wouldn’t realise that this boy had been so close to ending it all just a few hours earlier. Nick guesses that it’s a mistake many people have made about Louis, so he shouldn’t beat himself up right now.

He shifts Louis up the bed and over to the left side before tucking him in still fully clothed because if he removed anything Louis was wearing then he’d never hear the end of it and would be called something like “pervy hipster” for the rest of his life. He climbs into bed on the other side and sighs in relief. He was so glad he’d gotten up and gone for a walk.

Louis squirms around in the bed next to him and his hands grab for something until he feels Nick’s arms and he scoots over to tuck himself into Nick’s side.  
Nick lies there still, fascinated at Louis’ adorable nature and the streetlamp light from outside illuminates his face perfectly to show off his incredible cheekbones and eyelashes.

“Nick?” Louis mumbles sleepily.

Nick freezes, he doesn’t know whether Louis is dreaming or awake, “Yeah?” He whispers.

“I like you too,” Louis says groggily before becoming a deadweight on Nick’s side. He smiles down at him and kisses the top of his head gingerly.

“My little popstar,” He coos, and presses a quick kiss on Louis’ forehead. He would be perfectly happy to spend the rest of his days just like this; in bed with Louis Tomlinson. Greg is going to be so jealous when Nick can finally call Louis his popstar boyfriend.

Nick can finally sleep easy with a pretty boy under his arm and the knowledge that they’re both safe. His dreams consist pretty much of Louis’ face mixing with a variety of images of the rest of the band pretending to throw up as him and Louis kiss, and he thinks that yeah maybe that is something he can’t wait to wake up for.

 

\---

 

In the morning he is woken up by a crash coming from the kitchen, a warm but empty bed, the smell of burnt toast and a string of swear words coming from a pretty mouth in the other room. Nick smiles.

The clock on the wall says 9am, but Nick’s mind says _Louis. ___

**Author's Note:**

> This is a present for my platonic soulmate who had her art exam today. I'm tumblr user tomlincentric.


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